It was 2:00 AM, and the fate of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ national brand identity hung on late-night phone calls and hand-drawn pencil sketches.
On one end of the line was the Minister of Tourism Dr. Kishore Shallow. On the other was the Chief Executive Officer of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority (SVGTA), Shafia London. In between them was local Vincentian designer Dwight Davis, working through the night to sketch and refine design concepts.
“When I see the comments about AI and so on, I said, ‘Oh my, if they only knew how many pencils Dwight went through to sketch the vision,'” London revealed during a Saturday morning briefing in Kingstown alongside tourism officials, board members, and industry stakeholders.
The revelation shed light on the intense national saga that erupted after the SVGTA previewed its new destination brand identity to the public. What officials intended as an open period of national testing quickly turned into a passionate national debate across digital platforms.
“We always said this period was for national testing, and we certainly have been tested,” London acknowledged, noting that SVGTA prioritizes listening to local stakeholders.
Public scrutiny centered on several core elements, most notably the logo’s color hierarchy. In the initial draft, green occupied the center position to symbolize land and the natural environment. However, local Vincentians pointed out that the national flag places yellow in the middle, sparking widespread backlash.
The authority adjusted the design based on that feedback. Officials revised the emblem to anchor the center diamond in gold/yellow, representing the warmth and friendliness of the Vincentian people.
Officials pushed back with specific local distinctions. Minister Shallow emphasized that St. Vincent is the second most mountainous Windward Island, featuring the distinctive volcanic profile of La Soufrière. London highlighted that St. Vincent and the Grenadines commands nearly 40% of the sailing market share in the Eastern Caribbean, is a 32-island archipelago, and is currently documenting over 365 waterfalls.
Anderson and London detailed the emblem’s hyper-local symbolism: a smiling glyph tucked into the mountain profile inspired by the ancient Layou Petroglyph, angular diamond outlines echoing hillside homes perched on stilts, arched “n” letterforms honoring Kingstown’s architecture as the “City of Arches,” and a candle flame motif dotting the letter “i” to symbolize that Vincentians are “always on” and “always lit”.
Minister Shallow directly tackled public discussions regarding rebranding expenditure by comparing it to historical spending.
Shallow stated that more than 15 years ago, the previous national tourism logo was outsourced to an overseas firm for over $150,000—an expense that would translate to roughly $300,000 today when accounting for inflation. By contrast, the current rebranding was completed primarily by two local designers—Nadia Huggins and Dwight Davis—for under $10,000.
“If you take inflation and all these things into consideration, we have only managed about 10 to 15 percent of the cost then, and importantly we have used local designers,” Shallow stated. He emphasized that retaining tourism revenue within St. Vincent and the Grenadines is vital to ensuring the sector benefits local creatives, farmers, and fishers.
Acknowledging that design naturally divides opinion, London noted that whether an emblem features a cattle head or an archipelago, consensus is impossible. However, with public consultations completed and adjustments made, she affirmed that the nation is ready to back the new identity on the global stage.
